Improvement in gas-regulators



S. P. RUGGLES.

Gelsv Burner.

Patented Aug. 14, 1855.-

Y No. 13,437.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN P. RUGGLES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAS-REGULATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 13,437, dated August 14, 1855.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN P. RUeGLEs, ofBoston, in the county. of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-Burners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accom panying drawings, making a part thereof, in which;

Figure l represents an elevation of the gasburner. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the same. Fig. 3 represents the floating valve or disk and a drawing to illustrate the rationale of the construction and action of said floating valve upon the current or stream of gas.

I have satisfied myself by actual experiment that the resistance of the atmosphere on the volume of gas above a floating valve in a gas-burner will so act at all times on said valve as to regulate the escape of gas from the burner, and that the slot in the top of the burner may be enlarged to some five or six times the size of that commonly used without allowing any more gas to escape than is actually and beneficially burned, and that by such appliances to a gasburner a greater degree of light and of a more reflective quality can be procured than by any other burners now known, while the size of the slot prevents the impurities in the gas from choking or clogging up said slot.

The nature of my invention may therefore be stated to be the application to gas-burners of a oating valve as a regulator to the flow of gas through the burner, as will now be described.

A represents a ishtail burner of the ordinary kind, with the exception that the slot a therein is many times larger than that heretofore used and may widen from the inside toward the outside, which prevents its liability to choking or clogging, and the consequent throwing o f the ame to one side of the burner, which especially in street-lamps or others surrounded by glass shades by its heat cracks and breaks the glass. The principle, however, is not exclusively confined to fish-tail burners, as it may be advantageously applied to other forms of burners.

Vithin the burner I form a chamber b, in which is placed a floating valve c, made of a thin metallic disk without perforations or openings of any kind. This valve fits loosely in the chamber, and when the flow of gas is shut off has a seat onto which it drops, closing the way i through the burner. Vhen the head of gas is let on, it raises the valve c slightly from its seat and the gas flows underneath it to the inner perimeter of the chambcr l), and thence to the burner. The ioat-y ing` of the valve over the current of gas, it being` prevented from rising beyond a given point by the resistance on top of it, causes it to be a perfect regulator of the quantity al. lowed to pass through to the burner. There is a large preponderance of area of the valve over thatof the inlet which admits the gas,

The resistance on top of the valve may be due to the direct pressure of the atmosphere upon it when the top part of the burner or chamber is removed, or its indirect pressure through the volume of gas which fills the chamber l) above it. Thegas in the chamber above the valve does not increase much in pressure over that of the atmosphere, although the gas below the valve and in the gas-pipes may be of very much greater pressure than that of the atmosphere.

If the top part of the burner-viz., that which contains the stem and slot-were removed, (as is represented in Fig. 3,) the Valve c would then rise on the intiowof the current of gas and there remain oating upon the gas below and under the resisting atmosphere above, while the gas would burn all around the valve. In making this experiment a small rod 2 should be placed in the valve to project down into the gasway to prevent the valve from floating off sidewise; and in this connection it might be proper to state that the valve need not of necessity beof metal, as any other substance which would retain its shape would answer a similar purpose, as no particular or proportionable Weight is required for the successful operation of the plan. Now replace the top part and the floating property of the valve is not varied in any perceptible degree. It still performs the same function of a regulator, showing that the interposition of the gas above it, that gas heilig resisted by the atmosphere, does not change its practical result. I havo tried a perforation in the valve and found it to detract from Eil its action as explained, so much so as to make it comparatively useless. I have also found in practice that to raise the valve up beyond the point where the direct andresistin g gases would ot themselves keep it, it would be entirely forced away, but when left to their action solely its position seems to be the exact one for admitting the gas to theburner, regulated down to a pressure equal to that of the atmosphere, which is its naturally most economic quantity or pressure for perfect consumption.

The current or i'loW of gas through my burner without the floating valve would be in a direct uninterrupted line through large Ways not liable to be choked. The floating valve stands at right angles to that line of flowing gas and causes it to spread out and again unite before it reaches the slot in the burner. If my valve were raised by the head of gas above the point Where it acts asaoating and self-com pensatin g regulator, it would close the opening above it and shut ott the gas entirely. It is therefore in that particular the very reverse of what has heretofore been used for a regulator. I use no small orices of any kind through which the current of gas may pass independent of the valve, the action of my valve being positive and controlling the flow entirely. The gas- Way cannot clog or choke, being so large; but it it should by any possibility do so every part of it is accessible and can be cleansed with the greatest facility.

It is found that five feet of gas per hour under the full-head or street pressure (which is always the pressure that the gas is measured oi to the consumer by the meter) is a very desirable quantity for a street-lamp. This quantity I can regulate to a nicety in my teams burner down to thc most desirable pressure to burn it under, giving more than double the usual light of tive feetl burned in the usual way. My valve is a regulator to the inow ot' gas to the chamber l). It does not in any direct manner regulate the outdow or exit, except through the quantity it admits; or,in other words, it does not and is notintended to rise up, so as to cover, control,or regulate the opening from the chamber to the burner. Its action is confined to the opening below the chamber, and when it ceases to act in connection with the lower opening its function as a regulator ceases also. I use no side openings, no orifice through the valve. On the contrary I makeadirect perpendicular opening through the burner, across which a valve is placed that iioats on the current of gas when let on,

and thus regulates through a large gasway the quantity to be burned.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, I would state that I am aware a disk valve without an opening in itself", but in connection with side openings both above and below it, has been used, and that a valve with an opening has been used; but in neither case is the valve the regulator of the entire flow. These I do not claim; but

That I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination with a gas-burner, a floating valve which. stands across and controls the flow ot' gas through the gasway, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

STEPHEN P. RUGGLES.

Titnesscsz F. O. PRINCE, N. T. Dow. 

